Category Archives: First Aid & Hygiene

05/14/13

Traveling Tip for BOB’s and Backpacks

DSCN0233If you are backpacking, traveling with suitcases and airports, or packing a get home or get out of dodge bag there are some common similarities that make life easier. Pack only what you need, put the more common items near the top, and be careful when packing things like liquids or they will leak all over your gear.

Today’s tip is an easy way to prevent that. Simply unscrew the top of your shampoo, conditioner, or any other liquids with flip top openings, place a small square of plastic wrap over the bottle opening and then replace the lid. Continue reading →

04/1/13

All Natural Breastfeeding Nipple Balm

nipple creamMy wife hates it when I talk about nipple cream in public, well I think its safe to say, everyone hates it when a overweight middle aged guy says nipple cream in public. However, in researching ways to help my wife as she fed our boy I learned about homemade nipple balm.

This comes from my experiments in using beeswax for other ointments and salves. However, because the boy may ingest some of this balm while eating, it does not have any beeswax in it because all beeswax has some trace amounts of honey, and honey may contain botulism spores, so babies should not be ingest honey until they are at least one year old. Continue reading →

03/19/13

Garlic Cold Remedy

garlicGarlic is a powerful antioxidant with antimicrobial, antiviral and antibiotic properties.

I have also found that it provides decongestant and expectorant effects when I have a cold.

I am not a doctor, and none of garlic’s components have been isolated by science as the sole explanation for garlic’s flu-busting effects, but I have had good experience that garlic does a great job at preventing and remedying colds.

I would have to say, that even if it is only psychosomatic, the vitamin C, enzymes, and minerals such as sulfur and selenium, definitely help my body. Continue reading →

03/11/13

Homemade Lip Balm

lipbalmI started beekeeping for two reasons. I wanted honey to make mead, and I wanted beeswax. Beeswax has hundreds of uses, and one of those uses is cosmetics. Now, homemade lip balm isn’t the main use for my beeswax, but when I do make some, it is in high demand because handmade beeswax lip balm where care has been taken in its manufacture has no comparison to commercial balms. Continue reading →

12/24/12

Sprouting Tobacco Seeds for Poultry

tobaccoWhile looking for a good supplier of heirloom seeds I found a company that sells “homestead” packages based upon the USDA zone you live in. While looking at what was in these seed packages, I noticed a collection of seeds specifically for poultry farmers. As you can imagine, it contained all the same seeds as a scratch grain mix, but what surprised me was that it also contained tobacco seeds. Continue reading →

09/10/12

Turning Baking Soda to Washing Soda

Baking SodaIn some past videos I talk about the difference between Washing Soda (sodium carbonate) and Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate), and how the two are not interchangeable in soap and other recipes. In some of the hygiene videos I also talk about how hard it is to find Washing Soda at the big box chain stores. I have been looking for a way to get around this, and the solution (once I figured out the right search terms) was surprising simple. Continue reading →

09/6/12

Growing Ginseng

gensengI am just going to say, this is a project I started on a whim. I have no experience nor do I know yet if the techniques will be successful. I do know that ginseng needs 70-80% shade and a moist but well drained soil. My raised beds along my fence row sure meet those criteria. I cannot seem to get anything else to grow their so I figured I would invest $20 in seeds to gamble on harvesting ginseng in 10 years or so for upwards of $500 a pound. Continue reading →

07/19/12

Recipe: Homemade Vinegar

39.1Making my own homemade vinegar was something I have been interested in for some time; however, I thought it was difficult. Turns out I was wrong.

Making vinegar is just a simple (if not more so) than making wine. Just as yeast eat sugar and excrete alcohol. Acectobacter eats alcohol and excretes acetic acid (vinegar). They both need a warm dark place to do their work. However, yeast works in an anaerobic environment, vinegar is formed in a aerobic environment. So keep your alcohol away from air, or it may turn to vinegar. Continue reading →

06/14/12

Basics of Using a Rad Meter

RadI want to do a quick down and dirty article with some basic advice to using a radiological meter. When I train actual first responders on the use of their specific equipment the class lasts 8 to 16 hours. In the space of a 10 or 15 minute video I obviously cannot cover everything.

Health physicists, Radiological Safety Officers, and anyone that uses radiological detection equipment on a professional basis will probably lose their mind over this article because it is so generic, but if you have bought, or are planning to buy a meter for your own personal use then you should know some guidelines for its use, and frankly an individual citizen may have a hard time finding a way to receive this training on their own. Continue reading →

06/12/12

The Good News About Nuclear Destruction

nagasakiI have a guest post from my friends in Texas, KI4U – the only (that I know of) licensed civilian radiological calibration service (I have not received any compensation for recommending them, I just believe in the service they provide.)

What possible ‘good news’ could there ever be about nuclear destruction coming to America, whether it is Dirty Bombs, Terrorist Nukes, or ICBM’s from afar?

In a word, they are all survivable for the vast majority of American families, IF they know what to do beforehand and have made even the most modest of preparations.

Tragically, though, most Americans today won’t give much credence to this good news, much less seek out such vital life-saving instruction, as they have been jaded by our culture’s pervasive myths of nuclear un-survivability. Continue reading →